"A 20m mortgage versus 10m rent" is an incomplete comparison
The buyer pays more, but part of it builds equity in the home. The renter pays less and can invest the difference; the outcome depends on the actual return.
Compare net worth at the end, not just the monthly payment.
Rent or buy
Compare net worth year by year for two options: buying with a loan, or renting and investing the difference.
Why this tool exists
What’s easy to miss
Both sides get the same budget
Each month, whichever side spends less invests the difference. At the end, the two net worths are compared — what you actually end up with.
A break-even year
How long you need to stay before buying beats renting. The tool reports only the year buying pulls ahead and stays ahead to the end, not a temporary lead.
How it works
What you enter, what you get back
You enter
The house price, your down payment, the mortgage rate and term; the monthly rent, how fast rent rises, and how many years you plan to stay.
Every assumption is editable
Yearly home price growth, investment return, buying, selling and ownership costs. Future home prices are only an assumption — try several scenarios, including 0%, to see how the result changes.
You read
The cash needed up front, the monthly payment, each side’s net worth year by year, the year buying pulls ahead, total rent paid and total mortgage interest.
What the tool doesn’t account for
- It can’t put a price on the peace of mind of owning, the risk of a landlord taking the home back, or living near your children’s school.
- Rental tax, general inflation and job loss are not modelled.
- It does not model being forced to sell in a downturn.
Sample table
Reading a sample result
One made-up scenario: what the tool returns, and how to read it.
These are illustrative figures, not anyone’s real data. The assumptions are set deliberately high so they match no one’s situation, and are calculated with the app’s own formulas to show how to read the results.
This is not financial advice, nor an offer to lend or invest. To work out your own situation, use the tool in the app.
Sample figures — deliberately inflated
Assumed inputs
- House price
- 61,000,000,000 ₫
- Down payment
- 21,000,000,000 ₫
- Mortgage
- 10.9% a year, 25 years
- Buying · selling costs
- 2.5% · 2.0%
- Ownership costs
- 1.1% of value a year
- House price growth
- 9.1% a year
- Rent
- 180,000,000 ₫ a month
- Rent growth
- 6.6% a year
- Investment return
- 9.2% a year
- Staying for
- 20 years
Monthly mortgage payment389,156,809 ₫
Cash needed up front22,525,000,000 ₫
Buying pulls ahead fromYear 5
After 20 yearsNet worth if buying is higher by 58,159,496,192 ₫
Total rent paid87,311,981,964 ₫
Total mortgage interest71,337,257,267 ₫
Net worth year by year
Net worth if buying = house value − loan − selling costs + money invested. Highlighted: the year buying pulls ahead for good.
| Year | House value | Loan left | If buying | If renting | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | 66,551,000,000 ₫ | 39,674,158,667 ₫ | 25,545,821,333 ₫ | 27,896,325,161 ₫ | Rent |
| Year 2 | 72,607,141,000 ₫ | 39,310,971,435 ₫ | 31,844,026,745 ₫ | 33,674,493,569 ₫ | Rent |
| Year 3 | 79,214,390,831 ₫ | 38,906,157,951 ₫ | 38,723,945,063 ₫ | 39,892,838,037 ₫ | Rent |
| Year 4 | 86,422,900,397 ₫ | 38,454,947,275 ₫ | 46,239,495,114 ₫ | 46,587,639,239 ₫ | Rent |
| Year 5 | 94,287,384,333 ₫ | 37,952,021,649 ₫ | 54,449,614,997 ₫ | 53,798,402,875 ₫ | Buy |
| Year 6 | 102,867,536,307 ₫ | 37,391,453,829 ₫ | 63,418,731,752 ₫ | 61,568,163,985 ₫ | Buy |
| … | |||||
| Year 10 | 145,739,522,038 ₫ | 34,428,740,093 ₫ | 108,395,991,504 ₫ | 99,241,071,821 ₫ | Buy |
| Year 15 | 225,268,825,030 ₫ | 28,367,390,415 ₫ | 192,396,058,115 ₫ | 165,991,308,004 ₫ | Buy |
| Year 20 | 348,196,857,112 ₫ | 17,939,623,192 ₫ | 323,293,296,778 ₫ | 265,133,800,586 ₫ | Buy |
Swipe sideways to see the whole table.
Work it out for your own situation
In the app you can change every assumption and see the result update right away.